AMA Superbike

Aussie Mat Mladin captured the AMA Superbike Championship presented by Parts Unlimited in dominating fashion on Saturday at historic Daytona International Speedway.

Mladin, aboard the No. 1 Yoshimura Suzuki, broke away from the competitive field early in the race and earned a 3.475-second victory in the 15-lap event on the 2.95-mile motorcycle course.

“We saw what happened in the Supersport race, so we had a pretty good idea of what could happen today if you got it right,” Mladin said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t quite get the start we wanted but after a couple laps we got the lead and managed to cut some decent laps and get out there and put some gaps on everybody.

“We did what we had to do to bring it home. The bike’s amazing. This is the best bike I’ve ever been on. Suzuki has done some hard work on the Superbike.”

Mladin, who is shooting for his sixth AMA Superbike championship this year, earned his fourth Superbike win at Daytona and his 33rd of his AMA career, which puts him atop the all-time wins list.

England’s Neil Hodgson, whose lone start at Daytona was back in 1995 when he finished 16th in the Daytona 200 By Honda, came home in second place aboard the No. 100 Austin Ducati.

“I’m really pleased,” Hodgson said. “I’ve got mixed feelings. You feel happy to get this out of the way and get some good points, but you feel sickish you didn’t win.”

The fight for the lone remaining podium spot in the AMA Superbike Championship was claimed by Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies, who nipped teammate Aaron Yates by .119 seconds.

For Spies, it was his first career podium finish in AMA Superbike.

“This was my first podium in my second Superbike race,” Spies said. “You want to win, but I’ve got to be realistic.”

Neil Hodgson, Second Place, Superbike - ""I've got mixed feelings now inside, I'm happy to get it out of the way and get some good points, and then you're sick because you didn't win. It's like that up and down feeling. I had a bad year last year, so it's nice to get back to where you're battling for the lead and actually enjoying your race. I was comfortable running that pace. Every time I tried to push harder, I was tucking the front, though."

Jake Zemke, Fifth Place, Superbike - "I saw that pack in second and I'd just passed [Ben] Spies and pulled away from him; he was kind of tailing off that pack. I got up to them and we're going down the back straight toward the chicane and there were two lappers down toward the inside of the track. They were sitting up and looking back at everybody. Mat [Mladin] and Neil [Hodgson] had gotten through. [Aaron] Yates started turning in and he made it through and these guys, instead of staying single file, they all of a sudden go two wide. One was in the middle of the track and the other was down by the curbing. Miguel started to tip it in and realized there was nowhere to go and he went straight. I almost got to the start of the chicane, right were the curbing is, and they were parked down there. I was like, Okay I can make the right-hander, but if I do I'll clean all three of us out. I had to stand up, go through the track, go through a hay-bale chicane. And Miguel did too. It kind of ruined our race right there."

Miguel Duhamel, Sixth Place, Superbike - "They (lapped riders) knew we were coming and they did the right thing, but then they threw it on there. I went straight and my guy was really enthusiastic about slowing me down and I listened to him too much. I could have just kept going and got back in the same spot, but I lost a little bit of time there. I did the right decision because I saw Jake motocrossing down there. If he couldn't make it through there, it could have been really ugly. After that, Jake was doing really well and it made me think that I need to do some more motocross or supermoto-ing because he was really comfortable going in there sideways completely."

Kurtis Roberts, Ninth Place, Superbike - "Our bike was working really bad. Grip, everything, we've only had one day of testing before here. We're so far behind it's not even funny. But we beat Eric [Bostrom], we beat some of the guys. We just need this month off to go test and that's what we have. We'll be good."

Eric Bostrom, Eleventh Place, Superbike - "It was very disappointing. We tried a lot of changes this weekend, but couldn't really get faster. I rode hard and the team tried hard and that makes it even worse for me. They put in a great effort. I'm disappointed for them and I'm frustrated."

FX 600

Canadian Miguel Duhamel made history on Saturday at historic Daytona International Speedway winning a record fifth Daytona 200 By Honda.

Duhamel, riding aboard the No. 17 Honda, is now tied with Scott Russell atop the all-time Daytona 200 wins list with five triumphs in the prestigious motorcycle classic.

“This year, it’s just a great time,” said Duhamel, who had a 42.586-second margin of victory. “Anytime you can win Daytona and tie Scott Russell. I’ve been coming here a long time. I really felt like I earned it. I rode really hard out there. It didn’t matter what other people were doing. I was just concerned with my team and what my guys were doing. I didn’t want to let those guys down.”

The battle for the 64th Daytona 200 By Honda came down to a trio of Honda riders.

Duhamel and teammate Jake Zemke used a three-pit stop strategy while Erion Honda rider Kurtis Roberts was able to cover the 68 laps on the 2.95-mile road course with only two pit stops.

But Duhamel maintained a fast pace and his Honda crew performed flawless pit stops on his CBR600RR motorcycle.

Roberts came home in second while Zemke settled third. It’s the third time in event history that Honda has swept the podium and the second time in the last three years.

Roberts, son of three-time Daytona 200 By Honda champion Kenny Roberts, was frustrated over pit stop problems.

“Seems every year I have a pit stop problem here,” Roberts said. “Had a problem with the air gun on the second stop and it took forever.”

Miguel Duhamel, First Place, FX600 - "I was pushing it hard, riding hard, racing myself. I kept pushing and just wanted to go hard the whole time. I really wanted to earn it and I figured the best way to do that is to race every lap. I was hoping to win by that much (42.586 seconds). Until that first pit stop, I was thinking we were going to regroup and be together the whole 68 laps. I just put my head down and got out there and went as hard as I could."

Kurtis Roberts, Second Place, FX600 - "We were going to go for just the two pit stop strategy and just go real easy through the race and try and keep in the draft of everybody and not use myself to tow everybody around, and have to be wide open all the time and roll off the throttle a little bit in the draft and conserve fuel, because we knew it was going to be tight and we made it through. We did everything we could've, but Miguel (Duhamel) did a great job and won the race. My hat's off to his whole Honda team and Jake's (Zemke). Could've been a really fun race there sure if we could've stayed like that for 68 laps or something. It was fun altogether and nice to be back up on the podium after last year."

Jake Zemke, Third Place, FX600 - "Getting by Miguel (Duhamel) and Kurtis (Roberts), we just picked the wrong gear. We didn't have enough gear to pull the wind. We were gearing for the draft, but then with that headwind it kind of killed our gear. And then in the infield, those guys with their shorter gearing were able to pull me off the corners as well. I was in trouble from the get go. It's a long race.
We're hanging pretty even for a while. And then my bike started overheating, it started spitting water up on the windscreen. I was thinking, man we're only a couple laps in. I need to make this the whole race. I backed there quite a bit there for a while. I think I was running 46's through the middle part of the race. Just trying to make sure I made it to the end."